Abstract
AbstractSince the 1970s, economic restructuring and shifts in industries have morphed the occupational path of workers, curbing socioeconomic mobility for many—wages of African-American workers which have trended upward in the 1960s and 1970s started stalling beginning in the 1980s. As Hispanic/Mexican immigrants were being absorbed in various industry sectors, researchers have questioned whether unfavorable trends in African-American wages and employment outcomes are tied to Mexican immigration. This paper examines the effect of Mexican immigrants on wages for African-Americans using various estimation methods and finds consistent negative estimates, pointing to an inverse relationship between Mexican immigrants and wages for African-Americans, which is consistent withcrowding outandsubstitution effects. However, in addition, analyses also show that a heavier source of depression of wages for African-Americans stems not just from immigration. In fact, in some ways, occupation clustering and specialization of Mexican immigrants mitigates impact of immigration on African-Americans on a whole range of low-skill occupations. But, all else equal, there appears rather to be a tendency for African-Americans to face an even greater “wage penalty” in more predominantly black occupations. The findings suggest that the interplay of immigration policy and workforce development policies and initiatives should be better understood as part of the conversation to redress factors preventing occupational and wage mobility of disadvantaged minority groups in the labor force.JEL Classification: J61, J62
Highlights
Wages and occupation status are important elements of the labor market adjustments and socioeconomic mobility of individuals
The sample used for the empirical analysis consists of US-born individuals who identify themselves as being black (African-Americans) and people who identify themselves as having been born in Mexico, who are males, 18 to 64 years old, with positive earnings, who live in a metropolitan area, who are not self-employed, and who are not in the military
As less-educated Hispanics/Mexican immigrants have been absorbed in various sectors, the less-skilled sectors, a natural tendency has been to ask whether the trend in African-American wages and labor market experience and outcomes is tied to or attributed to Mexican immigration
Summary
Wages and occupation status are important elements of the labor market adjustments and socioeconomic mobility of individuals. Toussaint-Comeau IZA Journal of Migration (2016) 5:14 economy toward a service-producing economy These developments have received considerable attention among researchers who have viewed them as leading to a growing polarization of job opportunities—low-wage service jobs and high-wage professional service jobs (Bluestone and Harrison 1982; Harrison and Bluestone 1988; Lawrence 1984; Kosters and Ross 1987; Adams et al 1991; Morris et al 1994). Globalization, increased deregulation, and market liberalization have created a stauncher competitive environment and increased the need for firms to adopt costand wage-cutting strategies (OECD 2002). These developments have been fueled with increased labor supply arising from international migration of low-skill migrants, which created added pressure on wages for low-skill workers in the USA (Orrenius and Zavodny 2003)
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